Zuma wants to get wheels turning

Extensive rail and road infrastructure upgrades designed to improve the flow of trade were promised by president Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation address last Thursday. These include an integrated road and water infrastructure centred around two main areas in Limpopo – the Waterberg in the Western part of the province and Steelpoort in the eastern part. “These efforts are intended to unlock the enormous mineral belt of coal, platinum, palladium, chrome and other minerals, in order to facilitate increased mining as well as stepped-up beneficiation of minerals,” he said. “Using the developments in Limpopo as a base, we will expand rail transport in Mpumalanga, connecting coalfields to power stations. “This will enable us to decisively shift from road to rail in the transportation of coal, which has caused a deterioration of the roads in Mpumalanga.” The eastern parts of the North West province will also benefit from the greater focus on infrastructure connected to mining and mineral beneficiation, according to Zuma. Another promise is to “improve the movement of goods and economic integration through a Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor. “This project is intended to connect the major economic centres of Gauteng and Durban/ Pinetown, and at the same time connect these centres with improved export capacity through our seaports”. According to Zuma, Transnet has budgeted R300 bn over the next seven years for these capital projects. Of this, R200 bn is allocated to rail projects, and the bulk of the balance to projects in the ports. Amongst the list of planned projects is the expansion of the Iron Ore Export channel from 60 million tons a year to 82 million tons a year, improvements to the Durban-Gauteng rail corridor, and the phased development of a 16-million-tons-ayear manganese export channel through the Port of Ngqura. After his meeting with motor industry bosses in the Eastern Cape earlier this year, Zuma said Transnet would be forfeiting around R1-billion in port charges over the next year in order to support manufactured exports. Zuma also announced a “major” South Eastern node “that will improve the industrial and agricultural development and export capacity of the Eastern Cape region, and expand the province’s economic and logistics linkages with the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal”. Ten priority roads will be upgraded in the North West as part of the investment in road, rail, water and electricity infrastructure. Plans for the West Coast include the expansion of the iron-ore rail line between Sishen in Northern Cape and Saldanha Bay to increase capacity to 100 million tons a year.